Rainstorms and Picnics
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Laxus usually likes storms, but this one's on his nerves. Mira though finds the bright side in it. Per usual. - One-shot.


"There's just something so freeing about it," Mirajane insisted through a bright grin. "Don't you think? Laxus?"

Freeing wasn't exactly the words the man would have used when describing their current predicament. Which is what it was. Not a free, joyful excursion. It was a predicament. When he'd asked the demon to take the day off, he planned for it to be a fun filled day (and hopefully eventful evening), but what he'd failed to consider was the possibility of a rainstorm. A massive one. It drenched the entirety of Magnolia with the harshest of a downpour. Worst of all, it brought about no thunder or lightning either. Well, worst of all was that he and Mirajane were off, far in the forest, where he'd taken his girlfriend on what was supposed to be a nice nature walk and then a picnic, but now there he was, rain as the wind wiped it around the thick tree leaves and, honestly, maybe he should be thankful for the no thunder thing; a storm anymore intense might include hail.

As he was rushing though, with a curse on his breath at the freezing cold, driving rain that pelted them in the quickly becoming muddy forest, he found Mirajane lagging behind at a much less serious pace. When he turned back to glare at her and complain though, he found taking his eyes off the twisty path wasn't such a good idea. He ran smack into a huge tree branch, which caused him to fall backwards, onto his butt, getting mud all over his poor fluffy coat. It was as he stewed about this that Mirajane sauntered over, little concern for their surroundings apparently as she only giggled down at the lump forming on his head.

"Oh, dragon," she'd grinned, "did you fall down?"

"Yeah, Mira. I did." And he was shoving up then in annoyance. It wasn't as if, considering he was a traveling mage, he was used to high exposure to the elements. Because, oh, he was. But there was something...embarrassing, about this, that he couldn't quite grasp. "Obviously."

It was strange, his feelings. Embarrassment wasn't something he was used to in general (he was typically much better composed), but for some reason, this wasn't what was bothering him the most. No. It was that...Mirajane was viewing it. If he was collected on a regular basis, then he was typically far more suave when it came to the women he frequently spent his time with.

And Mira was far more than just some woman.

Far more.

They'd been dating for a good amount of time by that point and he'd sworn all the others off. Every last one of them. Just for those blue eyes that were blinking down at him, bright and round with just a slight bit of concern though it was hidden behind a slight amusement. She meant something to him, the demon did, that he couldn't put into words too well, not yet, but as he shook off the mud (the rain assisting heavily in this) he did have a few words on the tip of his tongue for the woman.

"You're fucking psycho," he complained as, once she was certain he was stable on his feet, she only twirled a bit, in the still pouring rainstorm, their poor drenched picnic basket dangling from one hand.

"I'm free, Laxus," she corrected. "Think about it; we're already soaked. And you're esuper muddy and gross now. And probably are concussed. Why not have some fun while making the most of it?"

Because this was not how Laxus had fun.

At all.

But moist of the things the woman drug him into doing weren't his conventional idea of a good time.

Spending one of his rare days not out traveling, on a job, or training by instead going out on a picnic and nature walk were hardly things he'd consider fun either. Before Mirajane. But here he was this time, purposely inviting this situation. It was him who suggested that they spend the day, not only together, but out doing something so ridiculous and (somewhat) romantic and just...not something anyone else would expect of the man.

She just did something to him. Mirajane did. She made him want to do dumb and stupid things that he would usually ridicule another if he heard about in passing. Because even as angry as he was in that moment, over the fact he was hurt and dirty and, well, embarrassed, there was still something beneath it all that was just pleased in an unusual way, to be in that moment, in any moment, with his girlfriend.

"I am not," he told her simply as he rubbed at his head and she twirled, "spinning around in the fucking rain with you."

"Oh, who asked you to?" she laughed over at him. "I'm just saying stop rushing, dragon. What's waiting us at home? Well, a shower, I suppose."

"All the more reason to rush."

"But don't you know," she called over her shoulder, in the lead now, but only because he was still stumbling a bit, maybe, from banging his head on that damn branch, "the dirtier you are, the longer the shower?"

"In what world?"

"Ours, I'd think. I mean, come on, Lax, it's just common sense."

He doubted it, but only because he doubted her own intellect. Well, not the overall state of it, but certainly the more common assertion. While the woman wasn't a completely and utter idiot, well…

"And you're all muddy now," Mira hummed with a click of her tongue. "I'll probably have to wash your clothes for you, huh? If you're coming back to my place with me? Your coat at least. So you'll probablyl have to stay the night, until they're all dry and clean and fresh. But I mean, if you don't think so-"

But he wasn't so easily enticed.

Shaking his head some, he explained simply, "The rain ruined our picnic."

"We'll have another picnic, dragon," she insisted. "Back at my house."

"That's not the same thing."

"Sometimes, Lax, for the rest of us mere mortals, things go wrong and you make the best whatever you can salvage." Sighing some as, just as suddenly as the rain had appeared, it seemed to cease, leaving them both dripping wet and cold. She looked back at him again then and her grin didn't seem as amused as just glad, like he was, to be there. Wtih him. "Storms always pass."

Heh.

He made a face then as he quicked his pace, to catch up with the woman. Once he had, he only grumbled, "Don't tell me about storms, woman. I'm the fucking Thunder God. You forget?"

"Only long enough for you to remind me."

"Damn right."

But she was looking up at him then with a bit more concern about the growing knot on his head while Laxus merely looked off, towards the sun that was now peeking through the trees at them. Things were already looking up.

Somehow.

"You don't always have get so bogged down by little things, you know, dragon," she chided later in the day, as they sat together on her bed.

They'd showered and she'd done off with his clothes as she said, to clean it up, which meant until they dried out on the line (which would take a bit), he was kind of stuck sitting around her room in his only somewhat damp boxers. This meant their picnic was had on her bedspread, rather than kitchen table, given she shared a home with her siblings, but he found he liked the atmosphere better in there anyways.

"Not everything," Mirajane was going on as he only watched her more than he picked at what bit of food hadn't been waterlogged by the time they got it back home, "has to be perfect to be good, you know? Sometimes the imperfect is just as good. If not better. You know?"

He made a face at her as he looked off, but it was with a snort that the slayer got out a, "Yeah," to the giggles of the woman.

It was no romantic walk through nature or nice picnic to start off what would hopefully be an eventful night. And it wasn't even that eventful of a night considering Mirajane made him hold an ice pack to his head for the majority of it while she busied their time trapped in her room by playing him all these songs he didn't really wanna hear that much, if at all, on her guitar.

But it was their night.

Together.

And that was all that mattered.


End file.
